As I felt the crisp air on my checks, walking home from school, I could tell the summer was coming to an end. Fall has always been my favorite season. The beautiful colors of leafs in the trees, pumpkin pie and sweet apple scented candles. This fall was different as I was beginning my last year of high school. This made life nerve wracking and exiting at the same time. Most people say it’s supposed to be the best year of high school. Looking back at the past years & all the memories I made with my friends it is kind of sad that it would be coming to an end. I decided that I would make the most of it and enjoy every last moment until it was time to graduate & start another chapter in my life.
As I got home my sister immediately asked me if she can borrow my shirt, that’s also something I won’t miss, my younger sister. Although she’s only two years younger than me she’s still so annoying. My parents don’t understand my frustration towards Ruby, but if they had her as a little sister, they would. I never quite understood why my parents named her Ruby, the decision was somewhat based on the fact that she has dark orange hair. I, on the other hand have jet black hair which is why my parents named me Sapphire. If you couldn’t tell our parents were very fond on expensive looking stones. When we were younger I used to always tell my sister that she was adopted she hated when I told her that. My mother and sister definitely share the same smile, but she has my dad’s beautiful green eyes.
After an hour of doing my amazingly fun home work, my parents come home from the gallery. My parents own an art gallery; it’s an amazing place, in midtown Manhattan with extra ordinary paintings, sculptures and lots of other art. That is how my parents met, on a cold winter evening at an old gallery near the Brooklyn Bridge.
“Sapphire” my mother screamed from down the stairs “you need to take your sister to her doctor appointment at 4:30, so both of you should get going.” My sister has been getting really bad stomach aches since we’ve gone back to school. I walked down the stairs and waited a minute. “Ru lets go, you heard mom we need to be at the doctor office in half an hour and the sooner I get back home the sooner I can finish my home work. I’ve never got detention and I’m not going to get my first one during the second month of school just because my sister can’t go to places herself.”
We get to the doctor’s office right on schedule for her appointment. Ruby goes into the room alone while I wait in the lobby area. I was reading this interesting magazine on these shallow singers, actress and actors who take their money for granted. I started to wonder what was taking Dr. Alison and Ru so long. Couple minutes went by and then I heard the doctor telling the secretary to call my mom and tell her that she needed to speak to her in person. I suddenly was really concerned; maybe something bad had happened to Ruby. “Is everything okay with my sister” I asked to the secretary “why did the doctor ask to speak with my mom?” “I’m sorry sweetie the doctor didn’t let me know why I had to call her; take a seat and when your parents are here the doctor will let you know as a family”.
It felt like the time was going by so slow, I kept looking up at the clock when suddenly I heard my parents come into the waiting area. As they made their way towards me, the doctor came out of the room. “I suggest you get Ruby to the hospital for an x-ray” Dr. Alison said. “Why? Is everything ok? Is she going to be ok?” my mom said in a huge panic. “There is nothing to stress about just yet, we just need to run some tests” the Doctor replied in a calm tone voice.
We immediately left for the hospital. When I think about it the next three hours aren’t really clear. It felt like everything was happening at once. The doctors kept coming in and out of the room running different tests. By three in the morning, I felt like I was dozing off when suddenly my parents and I got called into a small room.
They announced to us that my sister had stage four stomach cancer. I felt like the wind was knocked out of me when the doctor told us she had less than a month to live. As I was processing the news, it was as someone had made a power point of every second my sister and I spent together and played it on repeat in my head. You could hear my mother sobbing all the way across New York. Tears couldn’t stop running down my face. When my family and I went in the room to see Ruby she was reading her favorite book “The Fault in Our Stars”. She turned herself to us with a tear running down her face and said “it’s weird how I can now relate to my favorite book.” My mom and dad went to go hug her. I later asked them if I can talk to Ru alone. They left the room and I immediately went to go hug her. “I’m sorry for all the bad things I said to you, I was only teasing you. I love you so much.” I said while hugging her tightly. “It’s okay Sapphire you’re my sister and I know you didn’t mean any of it.” I admired her calmness during such a difficult sad time.
I didn’t go to school the next few days. I’ve never missed so much school in my whole life, but nothing seemed more important to me than being there for my sister. The two weeks after that were hard for my whole family. Telling are our relatives and close friends was very hard for my parents. I couldn’t imagine the hurt and pain they were going through.
My mother invited my sister’s two best friends over to our house for dinner. She made my sister’s favorite dish, lasagna and mom’s famous salad. We always ate this salad on days when relatives came over, days like Christmas, thanks giving and birthdays. When they got here my sister was laying in bed which the doctors recommended. We wanted to invite her friends so they could see her in good spirits and remember her that way. At first dinner was a little awkward, Ru’s friends weren’t really talking and when they did they tried their hardest not to be offensive to her in any way. “So how’s school going?” Ruby said adding to the awkwardness. “It’s going well!” Anastasia quickly replied, “Well its school, so it’s as fun as school can be.” Jake added to Ana’s statement. After dinner Ruby went in her room to spend some time alone with her friends & say her goodbyes. She was adamant about people not seeing her when she gets worse.
After they had left Ruby approached me “it made me really sad seeing them for probably the last time.” That sentence was heartbreaking, she continued “I love my friends, and although I didn’t enjoy school that much I will still miss it. The fact that I will no longer be able to play the piano or do gymnastics saddens me.” My heart broke as my little sister spoke about all the things she would miss out on.
My sister was amazingly positive throughout the whole time. She never asked or even wondered why she had this illness. She has always been the type of girl that believes that everything happens for a reason. It was one of the traits that I admired about her.
It had been almost two years that Ruby had passed away. I was sitting on the porch tears running down my face remembering our last moments. I noticed that the relationship between my sister and I grew much stronger towards her last few weeks. We had spent each moment reminiscing on old times & laughing at funny moments in our lives. On the last day before she passed away, I remember we were outside watching the beautiful leaves fall on the ground. It was peaceful and quiet & just sitting there with her made me so happy. The cool fall air on my cheeks will never feel the same again.
